The present invention relates to position monitoring for conveyor belts used in the mining industry.
Position monitoring for conveyor belts is typically performed using incremental end coders that count turns of a motor shaft of the winch. The turns of the motor shaft provide an estimated position of a conveyor carriage, and thus an estimated length of conveyor belt in a belt storage unit (i.e., take-up unit). However, the use of incremental end coders is inaccurate and must be reset every time a power outage occurs.